Comments on: Online DVD Rental in Canada

Question: Online DVD Rental in Canada

eurasian — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 13:13:29 -0800

Related to this question, I'm looking for a dvd rental service (i.e Netflix) in Canada.

VHQOnline, what we've been with and what we've really enjoyed, just got bought out by Zip.ca, those evil Future Shop folks. I noticed they totally borked our shipping info, and their validation on their membership editing is atrocious.

Basically, I don't trust a company that puts such a poor site together, and want to get out. Suggestions? We were currently on the 5 dvd/month for 30 bucks. Canadian, please :)

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 13:18:46 -0800

Cinemail? I'm not a customer myself (I live in Chicago), but I have a few Canadian friends who use it and they seem happy with it.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:25:28 -0800

there's quite a few here

By: bachelor#3

bachelor#3 — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:26:18 -0800

Here's a list of online DVD rental sites. There's 11 canadian ones listed there (12, actually, but VHQOnline and Zip are counted as one), so hopefully, one of those will fit your requirements.

By: PurplePorpoise

PurplePorpoise — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 14:44:41 -0800

I used Zip.ca. Fast turnaround, good selection, they'll order anything that they don't have (if you can show them where to buy it). No complaints from me.

By: furtive

furtive — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:02:51 -0800

The guy sitting next to me uses Zip.ca over the winter months, we're in Montreal and he says two or three day turnaround.

I myself went the cheap way and spent $60 on a DVD player that plays DivX. It's paid for itself doubly so in only two weeks.

By: boost ventilator

boost ventilator — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:42:36 -0800

How are Zip.ca and futureshop connected? Besides red web sites...

By: TechStuff

TechStuff — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:26:59 -0800

I investigated a bunch of Canadian sites about a year ago and concluded that -- once you find one or two you like -- the best option is the one closest to your home.

You can't get another rental until you return the ones you have, so fast turnaround in the mail means more rentals per month.

Details here.

By: RibaldOne

RibaldOne — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 09:26:21 -0800

We used DVDflix out of Vancouver first for about a year, but living in Ottawa, we found their turnaround time to be a killer so we ended up switching to Zip, with no regrets. Shipping involves a 2-day turnaround and you can speed it up by telling them that you've put your movie(s) in the mail. We've been with them for over a year and have few complaints (website stability being the main one).

I also like to hear more about the connection between Zip and Future Shop as this is news to me. Their one link to evil I know of is CEO Rick Anderson (strategist to the former Reform party and Canadian Alliance).

By: mendel

mendel — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:00:41 -0800

Best as I can tell, Future Shop markets Zip.ca, the same way that they market Bell ExpressVu, but that's the extent of the relationship; that linked FutureShop page there even warns you that you are leaving FutureShop's website.

By: kaymac

kaymac — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 06:52:17 -0800

Another vote for zip.ca. I live in Ottawa so YMMV but if I click on the "I've just returned this movie" checkbox on the website my next selection will often be in the following day's mail. Also, they're very good about adding titles to the collection.